Governorates of Egypt

Updates:

Sorin Cosoveanu notified me that Egypt created three new governorates on 2014-08-17. Central Sinai is being formed from parts of
South Sinai and North Sinai. Al-Alamein is splitting from Matruh. The third is Al-Wahhat Al-Bahariya, also known as Wahat or
Oases; from the maps I've seen, it appears to be formed from parts of Al Jizah and Al Wadi al Jadid. (Note that there was a
governorate called Bahariya Oases in 1947. It's the name of a landform, whether or not it's an administrative division.) At the
same time, there are many territorial adjustments to the other governorates. The smaller governorates will acquire desert land
from the large, sparsely populated ones. In theory, this will allow the small ones to move their surplus population outward and
release arable land for cultivation. Confirmation is provided by source [10].

Looking further ahead, the government envisages the creation of governorates called 10 Ramadan and 26 January in the vicinity of
Cairo. Recalling the brief career of Helwan and Sixth of October, I wonder whether these changes will remain in effect.

Egypt stopped observing daylight saving time from 2010 to 2013, but it is resuming it in 2014.

Update 6 to "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" was dated 2011-11-30. For Egypt, it rescinded the FIPS codes that had been
assigned to Helwan and Sixth of October governorates. ISO 3166-2 deleted the same governorates on 2014-10-29.

Update 1 to the U.S. standard "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" is dated 2010-08-20. It assigns FIPS codes to the three newest
governorates, Al Uqsur, Helwan, and Sixth of October. Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, is dated 2010-06-30.
It assigns ISO codes to Helwan and Sixth of October governorates.

ISO 3166-2 has come out in a second edition, dated 2007-12-15. This contains the ISO code for Luxor, as shown below.

Country overview:

Short name

EGYPT

ISO code

EG

FIPS code

EG

Language

Arabic (ar)

Time zone

+2~

Capital

Cairo

Egypt had been part of the Ottoman Empire before 1879. The British military occupied it in 1882, setting up a government
subservient to British interests, although it remained technically a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. On 1914-11-18, Great
Britain declared Egypt to be its protectorate. After World War I, with Turkey defeated, Egypt was granted a large measure of
independence, effective as of 1922-02-28. A constitutional monarchy was established. In 1952, the monarchy fell to a coup led by
Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser's government formed a union with Syria, the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.), on 1958-02-01. Egypt and Syria
became regions of the U.A.R. Syria withdrew from the union on 1961-09-29. Egypt continued to call itself the U.A.R. until 1971-09-01.
On that date, a loose federation was formed, the Federation of Arab Republics, comprising Egypt, Syria, and Libya. Egypt's official
name became the Arab Republic of Egypt. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula up to the banks of the Suez
Canal, later withdrawing to a cease-fire line a few kilometers to the east. The canal remained closed from 1967 to 1975. The Sinai
was restored to Egypt in stages by the terms of the peace treaty negotiated at Camp David and signed on 1979-03-26.

Further subdivisions:

Egypt's subdivisions at the secondary level include markazes and kisms. The markazes are more rural than the kisms. Some small areas in
port cities are under the separate jurisdiction of a police department. There are also territories, mostly desert, that are not in any of
those subdivisions.

Territorial extent:

Egypt ceded two sparsely inhabited areas to Libya in 1919 and 1926. These cessions left the border in its modern position,
following the meridian of 25° East quite closely.

The legal boundary between Egypt and Sudan follows the parallel of 22° North, except for a small jog where the Nile crosses it. At
the Nile, Sudan owns territory north of that parallel, mostly inundated by Lake Nasser. However, near the Red Sea, the administrative
boundary deviates from the legal boundary. There is a small region in Sudan, south of 22°, administered by Egypt, and a larger area in
Egypt, north of the parallel, administered by Sudan.

Egypt owns some islands in the Red Sea. They belong to Al Bahr al Ahmar governorate. The largest of them include Jazīrat
Shākir and Jazīrat Zabarjad.

Origins of names:

Al Fayyūm: from Coptic Fiom: the lake

Al Gharbīyah: Arabic for Western

Al Iskandarīyah: founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.

Al Ismā`īlīyah: named for Ismail Pasha (1830-1895), viceroy of Egypt during the building of the Suez Canal

Al Jīzah: Egyptian er-ges-her: beside the great pyramid

Al Qāhirah: Arabic for the victorious one, an epithet of the planet Mars, which was in the ascendant when construction began
on 969-07-06

Ash Sharqīyah: Arabic for Eastern

As Suways: after a nearby spring, Bīr Suweis

Aswān: Ancient Egyptian suanit: market

Asyūt: Ancient Egyptian syawt: guardian

Būr Sa`īd: Arabic for Port Said, which was named for Mohammed Said Pasha, viceroy of Egypt when work began on the Suez
Canal

Change history:

There have been numerous border adjustments. Typically, one of the smaller governorates annexes adjacent territory from a frontier
governorate.

According to source [6], the divisions of Egypt in 1913 were as follows. El-Arish is in what is now Shamal Sīnā' (North
Sinai).

By the time of the 1947 census, the divisions were as follows (sources [8], [9], and others). Bahariya Oases seems to have come and
gone over the span of a few years. When it was eliminated, it became part of Giza.

~1987: Name of Marsā Matrūh governorate, and its capital, changed to Matrūh.

2008-04-17: By decree of President Hosni Mubarak, Helwan governorate split from Al Qāhirah; Sixth of October governorate split
from Al Jīzah. According to source [4], "The final borders of Helwan, Fayoum, Beni Sweif, Minya, and Sixth of October governorates
will be fixed by the beginning of May [2008]...."

2009-12-07: Luxor governorate officially split from Qina by Hosni Mubarak. I saw evidence as early as 2001-08-10 that this split had
occurred, but apparently it was misleading.

2011-04-12: By Supreme Council of Armed Forces decree no. 63, Helwan governorate merged with Al Qāhirah, and Sixth of October
governorate merged with Al Jīzah, reversing the changes of 2008-04-17. During their brief existence, Helwan had HASC code
EG.HW, ISO HU, FIPS EG30, and capital Helwan; Sixth of October had the respective codes
EG.SO, SU, EG29, and its capital was Sixth of October City.

2014-08-17: Central Sinai governorate formed from parts of South Sinai and North Sinai. Al-Alamein governorate split from Matruh.
Al-Wahhat Al-Bahariya governorate, also known as Wahat or Oases, formed from parts of Al Jīzah and Al Wadi al Jadid (tentative).
Other governorates transferred territory to their neighbors. These changes are not yet shown in the table.

Other names of subdivisions:

Spelling notes:
Place names are officially written in Arabic script. Some names may be translated, but most are transliterated or transcribed into the
Roman alphabet. There are many possible methods of transliteration. Some of this variety is shown in the table of variant names.
The initial elements Ad, Al, As, Ash, At, and Az are articles. Sometimes, especially in older sources, they are spelled Ed, El, Es,
and so on. Sometimes they are connected to the following word with hyphens. Some sources omit them entirely.
I have not attempted to reproduce the "dot below" diacritical mark that modifies some h's, s's, and t's. The ayn is shown as a back
apostrophe (`), and the hamza as an apostrophe (').